Gameplay
The Basics
Preparation
Afterverse is a tabletop role-playing game. It is designed to be played by a group of players (as few as 2, but generally recommended for about 5) plus one Gamemaster, or GM. The required hardware is fairly straightforward: printed and filled out character sheets, pencils, many 6-sided dice (at least 15 per player usually, though players may share), and a number of counters (which may be anything from poker chips to tiny cubes) to keep track of your characters' banks (the required number of counters will vary depending on the situation, but you should expect to max out at maybe two hundred). See the “Tips” chapter later in this book for more advice on handling counters and other logistics.
A set of cards representing most common actions, dice pools, and banks is available, named the Afterverse Action Cards. They may be purchased online or printed and cut on your own, and are designed so that your players can have a clear idea of what their character is able to do in a given moment, as well as a convenient place to store counters for various banks.
Like many RPGs, Afterverse is usually a long-lasting game, with one session generally lasting 2-6 hours, and each session contributing to a longer story, or 'campaign'. This campaign will generally begin with character creation (which may take up most of a session in itself), continue through a number of sessions during which the story and characters will progress, and may or may not ever actually end. While it can be played as a single-serve, one-day story, most gaming groups prefer long-term campaigns in order to feel a sense of progress and to connect with the same characters.
Role-playing
If your group is new to role-playing games, the idea is fairly simple: the players and the gamemaster collaborate in order to tell a story. Most of the rules presented in this book are the mortar to the characters' bricks; they determine how the players' storytelling is woven together. Each player will control one character - their player character, or PC - that together comprise the main cast of protagonists in the story. In some cases, the players may indirectly play other characters, such as subordinates. Meanwhile, the gamemaster is responsible for the portrayal of all other characters and situations, and is usually responsible for introducing situations, stories, and the many non-player characters our heroes will meet along the way.
When role-playing, the players will describe what their character does and says (often speaking as if "in character"), and at any moments when the character may be coming into conflict or attempting to do something for which success is not assured, they will roll a test to determine the outcome. The tests are often called for by the GM, though as players become familiar with the system, they may voluntarily roll a test they think will be needed as they see fit.
The objective of a role-playing game is not to win, but rather to tell a story together. That said, the Afterverse game system rewards good roleplaying with XP, which can be spent to make your character more powerful or influential.
Tests
Every time you want to attempt to do something in Afterverse, it calls for a test. Tests can be simple tests of skill, but many of them are opposed by somebody else. No matter what the obstacle, there are some things all tests have in common: you have a certain number of dice, or "dice pool" (all 6-sided dice); the number of dice in the pool indicates the overall proficiency at the task in question; the number of dice that come up as fives and sixes are considered “hits”; and the more hits you have, the more likely you are to succeed.
In general, tests are an attribute plus a skill plus a specialization, written like this: ATT + Skill (Specialization). If the character has the required skill and specialization, his dice pool is Attribute level + Skill level + 2. If the character has the required skill level (i.e. the Requisite Level of that specialization) but not the specialization, his dice pool is Attribute level + Skill level. If he does not have the skill at the Requisite Level of the specialization, he must default, and the Penalty is the difference between the specialization's Requisite Level and the character's skill level. Skill tests are covered in more detail in the Skills chapter.
Threshold
In most tests, success is determined by meeting a "threshold". This is the number of hits required to succeed. When dealing with inanimate objects or something similar, the threshold is determined by the GM, depending on the difficulty of the task in question. In some cases, such as hacking or combat defense, the threshold is determined by the target, often actively; see the Computer and Combat sections for details on those tests. Common thresholds range from 1 (very easy) to about 5 (difficult), but for extremely difficult tasks even higher thresholds may be called for.
Critical Success
Normally, a success is when you roll enough fives and sixes to overcome the threshold. A critical success, on the other hand, happens when you can overcome the threshold using only the sixes rolled. A critical success means that the character has not only completed the intended task, but has done so with flying colors and may add some sort of flourish to the action or accomplish some small, additional task alongside the main one.
In cases where the numbers of hits rolled is more nuanced than a simple success or failure, the player may choose between using fewer hits with a critical success versus more hits for a normal success. For example, in the case of attack rolls, each type of damage has its own instructions for how to handle critical successes. Since being a critical success means accepting fewer hits, the player has the option to take the attack roll as a standard roll (with more hits) or a critical success with fewer hits.
Opposed Tests
Some tests are opposed: two characters actively working against each other to see which succeeds, usually in relatively symmetrical tests - that is, the two characters are both trying to accomplish the same thing, like finishing a race (in contrast to, for example, one character attacking and the other dodging). These tests are known as "Opposed Tests", and they will involve the player and the GM (or two players) simultaneously rolling their respective dice pools. Whichever gets the higher number of hits, has succeeded.
If the two characters get the same number of hits and a tie does not make sense for the test, then the character who initiated the action in question (such as the attacker) loses the tie.
Glitches
Any time a character rolls a test, the GM may roll two dice of his own. These are glitch dice; a glitch has occurred if two 1's are rolled by these dice. The GM need not (and indeed, in many cases should not, especially if the roll was a perception test) reveal to the player whether or not a glitch has occurred. He simply describes the result of the action. In some cases, it may not be clear to the players that anything has gone wrong until later, when the trap is sprung and backfires (often hilariously, and sometimes terrifyingly).
A glitch is a minor problem that happens during the action being rolled; the action will still succeed or fail as normal (depending on whether enough successes were rolled to pass the threshold or beat the opposed test), but something inconvenient will happen at the same time. Perhaps you succeed at shooting your target, but your gun jams immediately afterwards.
The GM should roll glitch dice for tests rolled by NPC's as much as for player characters. For this reason, it is recommended that he keep a few dice handy that are visibly different (e.g. a different color or size) to act as his permanent "glitch dice"; these may be rolled concurrently with his main roll for the NPC's for expedience. If multiple player characters are rolling the same test (for example, a group Perception test), rolling a glitch test for every character's test might be tedious and slow the game down; the GM may instead make a single glitch test with an extra glitch die, and then if a glitch occurs, roll a die to randomly choose which player's character glitched.
Glitch Risk
Certain actions are inherently risky, and when things go wrong, they are likely to go wrong in a big way. These tests involve a Glitch Risk. If a test has a Glitch Risk number, then the GM should roll additional glitch dice. The total number of glitch dice rolled will be (2 + GR); however, the number of 1's needed to trigger a glitch is not increased, remaining at two regardless of the number of dice rolled. Numerically, there is a 1 in 36 chance (2.78%) of a glitch on a standard roll; a GR of 1 implies a 7.41% chance of glitch; a GR of 2 implies a 13.19% chance; and so on.
Taking your Time
If a character has the time, he can mitigate some risk. The character can double the amount of time a test takes to reduce the Glitch Risk by 1. This may be done multiple times, with the test taking exponentially longer each time, until the GR has been reduced to 0.
Attribute-only Tests
The most basic tests use only Attributes, adding two of them together to form the dice pool.
Lifting/Pushing: BOD × 2
Judge Intentions: PER + MAN
Memory: INT + WIL
Initiative: REA + PER
Assisting & Teamwork tests
Sometimes one person is just not enough. There are two ways that multiple characters can work on the same test: Assistance and Teamwork. Which of these are available depends on the type of test; the GM has discretion over whether teamwork, assistance, or neither option is allowed on any particular test.
Teamwork is the preferable option when available. With teamwork, all participants in the test roll their full dice pool and add together their hits. Teamwork is only available in tests where each participant is able to contribute equally, and it requires that someone (who need not be one of the participants in the test) make a successful Leadership test; the number of hits on the Leadership test is the maximum number of people able to fully participate in the test. If there are more people participating than are allowed by the Leadership test, everyone can still roll, and the highest results are the only ones that count. For example, if 5 teammates are trying to lift a piece of debris, and one of them rolls 3 hits on a Leadership test, then all 5 roll their lifting dice pools, but only the best 3 rolls contribute to the total. A glitch on the leadership test will cause the lower dice pools to be used instead.
Assisting is more widely available and does not require a Leadership test. When assisting, one character (typically the one with the largest dice pool) is the primary actor and any number of others assist. The assistants roll their dice pools, and the number of hits the assistants get are added to the main actor's dice pool. The main actor makes the primary test, using the additional dice.
Hit Banks
Sometimes, your character will perform one test and the results will be used over time, rather than all at once. In this scenario, a hit bank should be used to track this result over time. In most cases, banks can be added to in subsequent actions, and may be capped at a particular amount (often the same as the total dice pool that was rolled for the bank in the first place).
How you track banks is up to you. Common strategies include poker chips, pennies or other coins, or dry-erase markers on laminated pages. If using the Afterverse Action Cards, banks may be stacked on the cards themselves.
Chutzpah
Each player character has a Chutzpah Bank. At specific points (usually the beginning of a game session), this bank is set as one of the attributes by the dice roll; from there, every time one of the following abilities are used, it is reduced by one. No single action may be affected more than once by spending Chutzpah.
Good Luck (before any roll): Add 1 to the number of pips on each die rolled in the next test - effectively, fives and sixes now contribute to critical success, and fours and above all count as hits. This roughly doubles the odds of a critical success and improves the odds for a normal success.
Long Shot (before any roll): This character makes a hail mary attempt to perform an action they would normally not have a chance to. They choose any number, and both the dice pool and the GR of the action are increased by that number.
Take 2 (after any roll): Re-roll all dice that did not score a hit, EXCEPT for 1s. The result is your new dice roll.
Adrenaline (at any point during combat, including when being attacked): Roll 1d6; add the number rolled to your Initiative Bank. This may be used at any time, even on another character's turn; this is useful if the character needs to dodge or attempt an interrupt, for example.
Second Wind (at any point except when being attacked): Clear your character's Stun damage bank.
Retcon: At any point, you may change something your character has done in the past, only if A) the new action is within reason for your character's established behavior and personality and B) changing the action does not significantly change the course of events up to this point. For example, the character may spend a point of Chutzpah just before combat starts to decide that he had decided to strap his gun to his waist when getting dressed today after all... unless the character passed through a weapon detector on the way in, which would have changed the course of the day up to this point. This Chutzpah action is always subject to GM approval.
Knowledge is Power: A player can make a statement relevant to one of his Interests (a statement that the player may not necessarily actually know to be true or not). He spends a point of chutzpah to declare it as a fact. If it is not completely impossible and does not contradict established facts, the GM sets a threshold (depending on just how unlikely it is to be actually true), and the character rolls WIL + Interest. If the roll succeeds, then the stated fact is true, and is now a part of the world. If the roll fails, the character believes it with absolute confidence anyway until confronted with hard evidence that it was not true. (The GM may choose to make this roll on the player's behalf, hiding the result from the player, so he does not really know whether it was made true. Alternately, the GM may choose to not tell the player what threshold he has decided on.) Other Chutzpah actions may not be used to improve this roll.
Perception Tests & the Situational Awareness Bank
Often, when entering a situation, the GM will have players roll a perception test. The general version of this test is PER+INT, and these hits are banked into the Situational Awareness bank. Players may spend points from this bank to ask questions about the surroundings, and the GM may spend points from a given player's bank to represent the characters having noticed something. This bank persists throughout the time the characters are in that situation; typically, this means as long as they are in the room, but it may refresh at other times when there are new details to analyze, for example if a group of people enter the room.
The GM will typically spend a few points from some players' banks as soon as the test is rolled to give them information about the situation they've just entered. After this, players may spend a point from this bank to ask a question about the situation. Additionally, when something new happens that the characters might notice, the GM may spend a point from the players' banks to have them notice it.
After a certain period of time, the player may wish to make a new perception rolls for one of a number of reasons, while still in the same situation. When doing so, the hits from the new test add to the existing bank; however, anything the character might have observed before this reroll is made has the cost to do so doubled. For example, if the character is searching a body, she may spend hits normally to find items on that body, but later finding something in the room besides the body would cost 2 hits from the bank. If after the initial scan of the room, a character is on patrol, they may roll a new perception test to detect intruders at the normal hit cost, but discovering details that have been in the room the whole time has the cost doubled.
If the observations relate to something specific, the GM may choose to use a relevant Skill + Specialization or an Interest in combination with the PER attribute. For example, in order to check a site for potential sniper nests, the GM may call for a PER + Ranged Combat (Sniper) or a PER + Tactics (Terrain Utilization) test, with the character drawing on his experience in the field to know where to look for a sniper. A player may use hits from a roll of PER + Art (Forgery) in order to determine whether or not a document has been forged. Or, the player may roll PER + Earth Flora (an Interest the character has) to see if he can find a particular type of herb in the forest.